Movies

Pulp Friction

Gibson's Payback translates solidly to the screen

By Andy Klein 

The new Mel Gibson vehicle, Payback, is arguably the first major-studio release this year to have even a modicum of aesthetic ambition. For his directorial debut, Brian Helgeland -- who won an Oscar for his screenplay for 1997's L.A. Confidential (co-written with director Curtis Hanson) -- has chosen to adapt The Hunter, the first of 20 or so novels written by Donald E. Westlake (under the pseudonym Richard Stark) about a professional thief named Parker.

Let us pause for a minute to praise Westlake. If prolificacy were in and of itself a virtue, Westlake would be, by that criterion alone, a paragon. Since the late fifties he has published more than 40 books under his own name, plus a score as Stark and God only knows how many more under at least a half-dozen other pseudonyms. But prolificacy isn't enough, of course, as the output of pulpmeisters such as Michael Avallone proves. Westlake, on the other hand, has the benefit of being startlingly good and remarkably versatile.

After he wrote his first few hard-boiled crime novels, Westlake undertook the Parker series in 1962. In The Hunter, Parker (no first name) is introduced as a powerful, smart brute, but as the series progresses he becomes more and more defined by his professionalism. Anger, vengeance and emotion give way to a few simple questions: What move is most efficacious for pulling off the job? For getting away? For surviving? Parker avoids killing not out of any moral sense, but because it always complicates matters.

Westlake achieved greater success with his comic crime novels, a number of which have been made into films. These include The Hot Rock (1972), whose hero Dortmunder is the anti-Parker. The two most recent Parker books -- Westlake returned to the character not long ago after a hiatus of more than two decades -- contain comic moments rarely seen in the earlier novels. The series as a whole is the best extended elaboration of the hard-boiled pulp ethos since Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op novels and stories.

Payback is the sixth Parker film, and its predecessors are a motley bunch. Hands down, the best Parker film is a previous adaptation of The Hunter. In director John Boorman's Point Blank (1967), one of the first attempts to develop a color version of the film noir style, Lee Marvin embodied the spirit of the early Parker books. Westlake's story starts with Parker (named Walker in the film) seeking revenge after being shot and left for dead by his wife and his partner. It was Boorman's conceit that Walker may actually be dead; Point Blank is filled with fragmented flashbacks and surreal landscapes through which an impassive Marvin stalks like a zombie. Developing this notion required some major divergences from the original plot but Point Blank, despite all its art-house pretensions, still comes closest to capturing the essence of Westlake's character.

Working from the same material, Helgeland takes a wholly different approach. For more than half of the film he follows the book far more closely than did Boorman, at least in terms of story. After recovering from being shot, the Parker character, known as Porter (Mel Gibson), shows up in an unnamed city to try to locate his faithless wife, Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger), murder his betrayer Val Resnick (Gregg Henry) and recover his share of the stolen money.

But Resnick has used the loot to repay his employer -- the Outfit (that is to say, the Mob) -- for money he lost through a stupid blunder. Because he has shown the initiative and resourcefulness to make up for his mistake, he escapes the Outfit's wrath and is made a low-level executive in its local operations.

Proceeding with methodical determination, Porter finds his wife, locates Val and embarks on a campaign to force the Outfit to return his cut of the stolen cash. This involves confrontations with a series of Outfit bosses, played by William Devane, an unbilled James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson.

In general, Helgeland pushes the material in a commercial direction, making the light moments lighter and the dark ones darker. He adds a lot of humor, some clever plot elements and some grueling violence that is far more explicit than anything in either the book or the Boorman film. It might be said that he has Elmore Leonardized the material: The influence of 1995's Get Shorty and last year's Out Of Sight is clear. (It seems likely that Leonard was probably influenced by Westlake, or vice versa.)

Certainly, Gibson's Porter is very different from either Parker or Marvin's Walker. As the story unravels he becomes more sentimental, reviving a romance with Rosie (Maria Bello), a hooker he used to work for. She gets off the film's single best line, a perfect characterization of Porter: "I think all those stories about you being dead were true. You're just too thickheaded to admit it." Unfortunately, as soon as she utters those words Porter starts to soften up, displaying the sort of feelings that Parker (and Walker) would never show.

While the emotions may be softer, the violence isn't, and those who are squeamish about such things should be prepared to turn away or cover their eyes during several scenes. It may not help. Helgeland is savvy enough to know that the most effective violence is that which isn't shown. By far the most cringeworthy moment here merely shows us Porter's reaction to what is being done to him.

For those who come to the film with no baggage, who have never read Westlake or seen Point Blank, Helgeland's film is, despite the occasional gruesomeness, a polished, fast-moving thriller with a nineties style. Gibson negotiates Porter's not-always-plausible changes believably, sometimes evoking memories of his Martin Riggs character in the Lethal Weapon films. Porter occasionally addresses us in voice-over, suggesting that he is remembering the story, although Helgeland doesn't cleave to this point of view.

The supporting cast is uniformly first-rate. Gregg Henry -- one of those guys you've seen in a million bit film roles and bigger parts in TV movies -- should make a big leap forward with this performance. His Resnick is a totally loathsome villain: an utter bully and, like most bullies, an even more complete coward. The moment when Resnick realizes that Porter is alive and looking for him is priceless. David Paymer and Lucy Alexis Liu are also memorable in far broader roles. John Glover, who shows up for about two minutes (was his part trimmed?), and Bill Duke are wasted. (Duke is featured in a subplot that could easily have been omitted.)

Helgeland makes a solid debut as director here, finding a new angle through which to view the Parker character, and doing so without exhausting the possibilities. Who would have thought that a pulp paperback original from the early sixties would prove rich enough to bring forth two film adaptations and still leave room for a third?

Payback.
Rated R.
Directed by Brian Helgeland. With Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, David Paymer, William Devane, James Coburn, Bill Duke and Kris Kristofferson.